1) Understand That Each Employee Is Different
Although it may be easy to paint all employees with the same brush, it is very important to realize that every individual is unique. Rather than thinking of your employees as a single, homogeneous work force, ensure that you realize the diversity of your employees and the potential inherent in that diversity. Realizing that your employees have different needs, requirements, expectations—and advantages—is the first step to realizing their full potential. For instance, you may have a highly disorganized employee, but they have a brilliant ability for sales—so what’s the best way to manage them?
2) Manage Your Expectations
Perhaps your employee isn’t the problem—maybe it’s you! It is important for any employer to lay out specific expectations and benchmarks ahead of the game. Sitting down and drawing up a plan of action and expectations is a very useful exercise to make sure that not only your employee stays on track, but that you do as well. Back to our earlier example, many top sales people are disorganized, so you’ll have to understand this “yin and yang” of personality attributes.
3) Manage Your Employee’s Expectations
Along with managing your own expectations as an employer, you must also manage your employee’s expectations. Transparency and open honest communications between employer and employee will ensure that you are both on the same wavelength and avoid any confusion about expectations and responsibilities.
4) Utilize Development Resources
Don’t be afraid to reach out and utilize some of the many development resources that exist out there. You have a range of options available to you to aid you in the process of getting the most out of your employees. While some of those options can be pricey, there are good tools you can use that are easily accessible and won’t break the bank. Other ideas include pairing up employees with mentors, creating coaching plans, joining professional networks, and inviting industry experts to coach and work with your employees. For example, there are assessment tools that can help you learn how to best manage a weak performing sales person: how to get the best performance out of them … also where/how to draw the line on behavior you may not understand.
5) Provide a Challenging Environment
Put yourself in the shoes of your employees—if you were placed in an unchallenging and monotonous environment, chances are you wouldn’t like it either. Instead, ensure that you provide a challenging and dynamic work environment that fosters creativity and excitement.
6) Lead by Example
One of the greatest motivators for an employee is seeing a manager or supervisor who works harder than anyone else in the company. Leading by example is an underestimated motivator that can foster a productive work ethic in a company, and produce some great results.
7) Engage Your Workers
Ensure that your work force is engaged. This means that employees have a say in decisions (where appropriate of course) and can communicate ideas and feedback to supervisors and management. An engaging employer will surely be rewarded by an engaged and entitled employee who wants to succeed in the workplace.
8) Reward Your Employees (… and not just with money!)
Even though this may seem like a risky proposition, rewarding employees can be a great motivator in general. Rewards do not necessarily have to be in the form of money. Rewards can include verbal recognition, employee perks such as lunches, or even other ongoing incentives such as paying for daily commutes to and from work.
9) Foster Strengths, Work on Weaknesses
While you don’t want to ever completely ignore a person’s weakness, it’s important to foster a person’s strength while being aware of their weaknesses. Realizing an individual’s strengths will enable you to leverage those into productive and rewarding work. At the same time, working on the person’s weaknesses can also be beneficial to both employer and employee, and works to strengthen the professional bond between the two. Back to our salesperson example, you don’t want to ignore their lack of organization, merely make sure it does not get out of control and hurt their performance or relationship with your other workers.
10) Don’t Be Afraid to Cut
While it is never the intention of an employer to hire someone who doesn’t work out, sometimes cutting an employee loose in order to maintain workplace harmony, avoiding conflict, or for a simple lack of ability is a necessary part of running a business. As an employer, you can’t and shouldn’t avoid taking the lead on issues that jeopardize any aspect of your business. The longer you wait, the more damage that will be done. We’ve actually received thank you notes from former employees who have not worked out, but are thankful for our frankness on constructively guiding them toward a new career that might fit them a bit better.
